I plead ‘no mas.’ I was a one-time critic of Bill Simmons, but I caught myself totally laughing out loud tonight reading his photo essay on a Red Sox game he attended recently at Tropicana Park in Tampa.

Maybe it’s because I’m a fellow chowd myself (and if you doubt me try this on for size: In 1978, I was sitting in first-period study hall in Mascoma Valley Regional High, where, sitting in a chair, I leaned back and tipped it over to fake a fainting spell, so I could get sent home by the school nurse to watch the playoff game that day between the Sox and Yanks. Sorry, mom, I lied. I wasn’t really sick from that morning’s breakfast like I told the nurse).

Oh, and here’s the latest skinny on some Avs stuff lately, as I gear up for my 12th Avs training camp: I haven’t been able to get this confirmed, but some people are saying Peter Forsberg had another surgery Tuesday in Montreal, for a hernia. He had one of those before, so if he did, it’s just another item on his long medical log – and another sign that, as much as I hate to say it, I think Foppa is just too risky to deal with now for a team. I mean, he’s just too scary when it comes to wondering if he’s going to be able to put on the uniform every night now, and it’s been that way for a while.

I still think he’ll play in the NHL this year – forget those rumors that he’ll play in MoDo this year again, in Sweden. But I just get the persistent feeling that he’ll end up somewhere other than Colorado. But the curious thing is that the Avs haven’t spent any of the roughly $5.5 million they have left under the salary cap, on any of the other free agents still out there. Is that a big sign they’re still waiting on Forsberg to declare he’s ready to play? Could be.
[
Francois Giguere, not surprisingly, isn’t talking about that possibility. But a lot of teams have made it public that they’re very interested in talking to him whenever he’s ready. Toronto was the latest one.

I talked to a high-profile NHL general manager yesterday, and he thinks the Avalanche will definitely be a playoff team again this year. He said he thinks Colorado is again the best team in the Northwest Division, thanks to their free-agent signings and the continued development of Paul Stastny.

For the big Jose Theodore fans out there – don’t worry about his minor surgery he had this week. The people I talked to said he might even be on the ice for the start of training camp, but that he’ll definitely be skating by the end of camp.